Acceleration is an important performance factor for a vehicle, such as a sports car. Car manufacturers have been investing substantial resources in an effort to improve the acceleration performance.
Traditionally, most high-performance vehicles are gasoline powered. To improve the acceleration performance of a gasoline car, car manufacturers normally use a powerful internal combustion engine having a high horsepower rating in order to generate a high torque during initial acceleration.
With the development of battery technology and high-performance motor systems, electric vehicles have become increasingly popular as a viable alternative to the traditional gasoline vehicles. In electric vehicles, the acceleration performance relates to the performance of the electric motor system that provides propulsion.
Current research and development efforts on improving the acceleration performance of electric vehicles focus on increasing the output power of the electric motors and the batteries. This approach is similar to the one followed by the R&D community of the gasoline cars, in that an electric motor is often seen as a counterpart of an internal combustion engine and a battery is often seen as a counterpart of a fuel system. The specific properties of the electric motor control system and their relationship with the torque output ability of the motor, however, have not been adequately explored. The present disclosure is directed to improving the motor control system of an electric vehicle to provide additional torque output, thereby further improving the acceleration performance of the electric vehicle.